Work Text:
Paul Matthews HATES musicals, Ok hate is a strong word, he just doesn't like them. He had spent too many hours at his Grandmother's house watching Singing in the Rain and eating her lemonade scones as she sang along, greatly out of tune.
Paul would have never seen himself being a part of a musical. That was until one day he was raking the leaves in front of his Grandma's cottage on the edge of town and he found a note left for him beside her front doorstep. It was messily written but clearly addressed to 'Paul, The Grandson.' Paul was greatly curious so opened the envelope quickly and carefully.
It read:
Dear Paul,
I have heard from Rosie, your Grandma that you are very good with computers and technology.
I am putting your name down to help with my local production of Brigadoon. If you help me out I will put in a good word at the University for you.
Rehearsals start tonight, Monday Night 7pm at Hatchetfield Community Centre. Don't be late. The Stage Manager, John runs a tight ship.
Professor Henry Hidgens
(Your Gran's Neighbour, the big house at the end of the street.)
Paul studies the note in confusion. He's heard his Grandma speak of her friend Henry who worked at the university, he taught Bio or something if he remembered correctly. Whilst Paul was a good student . Life at the Matthews household wasn't easy. It wasn't a terribly home life just hard enough that Paul's grades weren't as good as they could have been. His parents couldn't afford a college tuition fee, so Paul was working very hard on getting a scholarship and helping his Gran out most afternoons for some money, as well as the morning paper run.
He had heard about the production on the grapevine at school. Sycamore High School didn't have a theatre program, so many of the theatrically inclined students went and auditioned for the community shows. Especially the school's two biggest choir stars, Linda and Becky. Paul is pretty certain that those two are going to be involved in this show.
Paul stares at the paper and decides he has nothing to lose. While he mightn't like musicals, he liked technology and the idea of a word of recommendation for college. He looks at his watch 6:40, he better haul ass if he wants to be there in under 20 minutes.
He picked up his bag, told grandma where he was off to and got on his bike and headed towards the town centre and the community centre. It was going to be a long night.
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Emma Perkins was NOT a theatre performer. She liked musicals well enough and has seen a lot of them, her sister Jane has always been really interested in theatre and broadway and has been playing lead roles since middle school.
Sure, Emma had danced from a young age. She never did very well at competitions, often in Jane's shadow. Jane was always front and centre in her routines and had many 1st place trophies and plaques whereas Emma was a second or third row dancer and her places were often 2nd or 3rd too. Trying her hardest to be like Jane, but often failing. When Emma got to high school she stopped trying.
She was never going to be as good as Jane was at anything, so she just gave up. She kept dancing, but she was lazy, very lazy. Her dance teachers often looked at her with sadness in their eyes, wishing she would just put in more effort. Despite her laziness Emma's dancing was good, well better than good, Great if she decided to jump a little higher, stretch her arms more or hell even a smile would help.
Jane was getting some college credit by Directing this community production of Brigadoon. She had asked Emma to come along and Choreograph* with her friend Nora. Emma decided to give it a shot. There was not many opportunities for Emma and Jane to do things together now that Jane had college and her boyfriend Tom and Emma worked part time at the local coffee shop Beanies.
It was Monday afternoon and rehearsals tonight were at 7pm, both Nora and herself finished their shifts at 6.30 which left them enough time to grab a toastie for dinner and walk the 2 blocks to the community centre.
Beanies was quiet, a usual Monday afternoon. Nora and Emma were dancing around as they cleaned the tables, discussing routines and laughing about how they both needed to research highland dancing some more.
It was time to clock off of work and head to the first rehearsal. Emma and Nora ate their toasties and chatted with the people on the next shift, Zoe and Charlotte. It was 6.45 and they better get a move on, they were probably going to be late, Jane was going to kill her, Emma thought.
Emma hated to Admit it but she was starting to feel quite excited about this new musical experience. She looked over to Nora with a smile as they exited the coffee shop.
Just as they turned to walk down the street they jumped back as a boy, about their age raced past them on his bike. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FUCKING GOING!" Emma calls out raising her middle finger to him. "Sorry!" they hear faintly as the boy is lost into the distance. Emma's heart rate returns to normal as she turns to Nora and the walk as quickly as they can to the rehearsal.